1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to consumer digital video recording devices (DVRs), and more particularly to a method and system that schedules DVR recordings in response to user-input provided to a network portal.
2. Description of Related Art
Digital video recorder (DVRs), which may be in the form of a portable device such as a personal video recorder (PVR), a set-top box or a computer having a video interface and/or video capability provided from a digital or analog network source are becoming ubiquitous in households and other locations.
In order to schedule DVR recording over extended time periods and while a DVR operator is not present, traditionally, a recording menu in the DVR or system controlling the DVR is used to program recording time intervals, for example, a week in advance. Remotely controlled recording and DVR management on both local area networks and via the Internet have recently been proposed for web-based and application-based program guide software and portals. However, conflict management is typically performed only when the DVR periodically connects to a service to update its programming guide and a conflict is discovered, or by scheduling using a downloaded program guide that is local to the DVR or a computer system connected to the DVR.
The result is an inconvenience to a DVR user, in that the user may click on links provided by a remote portal, only to discover later that they have selected a program that overlaps a time slot already allocated to record another program. Further, even in systems in which local programming is performed and the DVRs local user interface can immediately inform the DVR user of conflicts, the prevention of conflicts among multiple portals is not provided by such systems. For example, if a DVR user wishes to program a DVR to record broadcast channels, satellite channels and cable channels, present-day systems have no means to accommodate immediate conflict checking amongst those diverse sources, even if web portals were available to select those sources for DVR recording and transmit those selections to the DVR.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a method and system that can show a user immediately when conflicts between selected recording periods exist for a given DVR. It would further be desirable to provide conflict checking capability across multiple program selection portals.